different between provoke vs sharpen

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle French provoquer, from Old French, from Latin pr?voc?re. Doublet of provocate.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /p???v??k/
• (US) IPA^(key): /p???vo?k/
• Rhymes: -??k

Verb

provoke (third-person singular simple present provokes, present participle provoking, simple past and past participle provoked)

1. (transitive) To cause someone to become annoyed or angry.
   • Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.

2. (transitive) To bring about a reaction.
   • 1881, John Burroughs, Pepacton

     To the poet the meaning is what he pleases to make it, what it provokes in his own soul.
3. (obsolete) To appeal.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (bring about a reaction): bring about, discompose, egg on, engender, evoke, grill, incite, induce, inflame, instigate, invoke, rouse, set off, stir up, whip up; see also Thesaurus:incite

Derived terms

• provocation
• provocative

Related terms

• evoke
• invoke
• provocateur
• revoke

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English scharpenen, scharpnen, equivalent to sharp +? -en.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /????p?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)p?n

Verb

sharpen (third-person singular simple present sharpens, present participle sharpening, simple past and past participle sharpened)

1. (transitive, sometimes figuratively) To make sharp.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill.
2. (intransitive) To become sharp.

Synonyms

• hone (figurative sense)
• whet

Antonyms

• blunt
• blur

Derived terms

• sharpener

Translations

Anagrams

• Hapners, pherans